The Trait Approach: Gordon Allport

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The Trait Approach Gordon Allport

• Senior Seminar
• Markieta Rose

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Definition

• Trait-a dimension of personality used to
  categorize people according to the degree to
  which they manifest a particular characteristic
• Traits are forms of adaptive and expressive
  behavior.

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Personality as Trait Dimensions

• Identify a wide range of behaviors that can be
  represented on a continuum
• Any person can be placed somewhere on the
  continuum (most people fall in the middle)
• The less we know about someone the more likely we
  are to describe them in trait terms

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Gordon Allport 1897-1967

• traits really do exist and they exist in the
  brain they have physical components in our
  nervous system
• Traits are
• more than words that we use to describe others
• not isolated stimuli, the trait combines things
• Have a role in determining how we perceive things
  and act in a situation
• People do not perceive situations as being the
  same and they do not act the same in similar
  situations

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Gordon Allport 1897-1967

• Allport did not introduce the trait approach but
  he made contributions that are still accepted
  today.
• Nomothetic vs. Idiographic Approach
• Cardinal Traits
• Central Traits
• Functional Autonomy

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Nomothetic Approach

• a method of understanding personality that
  compares many people along the same personality
  dimensions
• Each person is tested to see how their score for
  a given trait compares with the scores of other
  participants.
• Traits that apply to everyone are referred to as
  common traits.

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Idiographic Approach

• a method of studying personality through in-depth
  analysis of one individual and the dimensions
  relevant to that persons personality
• Participants compile a list of traits that they
  feel best describes their personality
• Central trait-the 5 to 10 traits that best
  describe a persons personality
• Cardinal trait-a single trait that dominates a
  persons personality

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Functional Autonomy

• Allport believed that childhood behaviors can
  resemble adult behaviors but they do not
  necessarily represent the same underlying
  motives.
• Functional autonomy is the maintenance of a
  behavior pattern for reasons other than those
  that originally caused the behavior.
• An example A child may read a lot because their
  parents want them to do good in school. The same
  child grew up to be an adult who reads a lot
  because they enjoy reading.
• The behavior is now functionally autonomous
  reading is now enjoyable but for a different
  reason

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Criticisms

• With the idiographic approach the researcher
  determines what trait to examine
• With the Nomothetic approach the traits selected
  by the researcher might be central for some but
  not for all

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2 Major Questions of Trait theorists

• 1. Do traits really exist inside a person?
• Traits exist inside a person, on a physical
  basis.
• 2. Are they useful in determining behavior?
• YES, Allport recognized that behavior is
  influenced by a variety of environmental factors
  BUT traits can be used to narrow predictions of
  behaviors.

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Conclusions

• Trait researchers identify types or traits that
  describe a large number of people and that can be
  used to predict behavior.
• Traits cannot solely determine a behavior but
  they can help narrow the prediction of a behavior.

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Reference

• Burger, Jerry M. Personality. Sixth Edition.
  2004 Wadsworth/Thompson Learning.